Eco-Survivor

I've watched the Eco-Challenge every year since the second one televised. I absolutely loved it when it was on Discovery Channel. That was what inspired me to do my own mini-adventure race last year, and I would love to one day be in the Eco, Southern Traverse, or other big expedition race. It's a dream that looms quite distantly considering my current condition, training rate, and financial status, but I dream nonetheless. I don't care about the television coverage. I just want to do it. I'd happily be one of those teams in the middle or back of the pack that doesn't get a split second of camera coverage just to be in one of those races.

When the Eco-Challenge went to USA Network last year, I wasn't too sure about how it would be. I was a little disappointed when it came out and seemed to be dumbed down for wider audience appeal. This year, I'm even more disappointed. Mark Burnett has been doing Eco-Challenge long before Survivor, but the Eco has definitely taken on a Survivor-esque quality. From the special interest stories, the soap operas, the attention to only a select few of over fifty racing teams, and the focus on pain and misery rather than teamwork and accomplishment, this has become much less of a professional race and more of a form of entertainment. When a completely incompetent and annoying Sarah Boardman gets more attention than the numerous other functional, successful teams, something is wrong. I got to the point where my eyes spontaneously rolled every time I saw her face appear on the screen. This production was a mockery of adventure racing.

I won't deny that this show was entertaining television. I wish it were different. I would like to see more attention given to the real athletes and real working teams. Still, there is little coverage of adventure racing in general, and I will take what I can get. I admit to watching Survivor, but I don't look at that as sports coverage. It's not a sport. It's not something people train to do or, for the elite teams, make a life doing. Comparing Survivor to the Eco-Challenge is like comparing Price is Right to football. At least, that's what I used to think, until I saw the Survivor-like intro to the Eco-Challenge, complete with tribal music and the "stars" names and images.

On the other hand, Burnett is out to make money. He's an entertainer, a producer. He also puts a lot of work and money into this production. Still, I think the move to USA and subsequent media-friendly changes to the production of Eco-Challenge were at the cost of some class and integrity to the sport of adventure racing, not that the general viewing public cares. And the general viewing public is the target audience, not those of us who just love the sport of adventure racing. There are lots of people who still don't even know what adventure racing is, even though they very well might know what an Eco-Challenge is. Burnett is doing what he needs to do to make a successful show, and he's succeeding at that, even if that isn't exactly how I'd like to see it.

I'm still inspired by the Eco-Challenge, despite the story it's made out to be. Maybe one day I can give my own version of the race. It's a long road to get there though. I'm certainly in no condition to do that anytime soon. So maybe I ought to stop worrying about what Burnett is doing and start worrying about what I'm doing.